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Katy returns for Storm Season 11

Surrey Storm’s all-time leading appearance maker Katy Hughes has signed a new contract for the 2020 Vitality Superleague season.

Katy made her debut in the 2011 Superleague season, having previously graduated from the Storm NPL squad, and will now extend her stay at Surrey Sports Park into an 11thyear.

The 28-year-old defender, who has been part of two Superleague-winning teams, in 2015 and 2016, was made team captain in 2018, and said: “It’s an honour to be asked to captain Storm – it’s a club that means a lot to me. I hope I can use some of my experience to enthuse, inspire and guide both on and off the court.”

Despite what she calls “a transition year” in 2019, Hughes admits: “It was an easy decision to return to Storm. Obviously last year there were lots of changes, but now we want to build upon these new foundations and I’m excited to try to help Storm return to the levels that we achieved in previous seasons.

“Last season was probably one of the most competitive Superleague seasons that I have participated in. We had some good results but we just weren’t consistent enough to be challenging the top teams for the full 60 minutes,” she recognises, but sees great cause for optimism in 2020: “There were a lot of positives to be taken from last season, and Mikki (Austin) is just getting started.

“She is well known for her determination on court, and I have no doubt that this will be instilled into the whole Storm team. We have plenty to be excited about as our team becomes a force to be reckoned with.”

“Katy was one of the first players – if not the first – to try to get back, and lucky it wasn’t that much of a hardship,” said Austin. “Last year was a massive year for Katy. She impressed so much in terms of her leadership on court, and in terms of her playing ability it was one of her best years. I really looking forward to continuing to work with Katy in that leadership role, as well as individually, and her court craft will hopefully lead the team forward.”